Music Bus Goes Africa

2011-12-19T09:37:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone,
First of all, I would like to share with you some words WE-ACTx youth leaders wrote about the upcoming project:

Joseph: "First of all, we can not believe this. This music is important for me because before starting to do this music I was depressed and had many fear, I lost my future's hope but when I started to do this activity immediately I started to feel happiness in my heart and to create friendships between each other. That's why I can say that this music it takes one big part in my mind and for my health."

Joseph, WE-ACTx Youth Leader

Aime: "Music is a symbol of friendship for us in our country, and it will help us to create a new image between us it will help us also to be released from depression in order to have a better future. So, I think we will learn how to teach the others including our parents who are HIV+ in order to show them that they have a value for themselves and for their country."

Aime, WE-ACTx Youth Leader

Joint voices: "Let's rise up our hands to fight depression, stigmatization in order to have a better future for us and our neighbors without fear for saying that you have HIV+, and talk about our health status openly like any other medical situation, music is our first bridge to reach this goal."

The problem is that this project is not happening. At least not yet. We are dependent on fundraising, which is so difficult these days. That's why we have decided to try using the idea of crowdfunding -- we present the project to the good people of the world and hope that many individuals will donate and so make the project happen. After two and a half weeks we managed to raise $4,600 from 50 people, and there are 45 days left. This is barely enough, and we fear that we will not reach the goal of $15,000 just to begin with the project in February.

We need your help! Please spare ten-fifteen minutes of your time, and send the link to your friends a family.

http://www.indiegogo.com/RwandaYouthMusic1

Thank you so much
Danny

Rwanda Youth Music - IndieGoGo Fundraising Campaign Started!

2011-12-01T11:30:00.000+02:00

It's December 1, World AIDS Day, and we are launching the fundraising campaign on IndieGoGo for the beautiful project we wish to set up in 2012 together with WE-ACTx.

For information about donating, sharing, and description of the project, please visit:

http://www.indiegogo.com/RwandaYouthMusic1

Thank you!

The Song of Birds and Goodbyes

2011-08-23T19:53:00.006+02:00

That's it. I'm back in Jerusalem after three and a half weeks.
On the morning of my flight I had the magical opportunity to give a workshop to twenty women at one of WE-ACTx women support groups. Not only was it the first time I gave a music workshop to a group of adults, but they were all women, some traumatized, some suffer from domestic violence, and some shunned from their communities. So a few days before the workshop I called Fabienne for advice: "HELP!!!" I shouted in the phone, and Fabienne replied that it will be alright if I just do what I usually do. Easy said. I felt insecure; apprehension filled my thoughts, what if they reject my presence? what if they do not respond to the musical activities? I kept in mind what a friend psychologist told me before I left, that sometimes, in such situations of women support groups it is actually an extremely positive experience to have a man that is not threatening. I could do that.

So I did what I do usually, just with even extra attention. We sang songs, and danced, and drummed, and together managed to create a secure atmosphere that was based on music, laughter and trust.

It was one of the best workshops I have ever had, watching the women smiling and laughing, singing and doing silly movements with me. In the end the trauma counselor that also participated asked the women how they felt about the workshop. One said that her heart was relieved. Before I left they sang for me a goodbye song, which I recorded, and you can listen to here:

Goodbye song in Kinyarwanda sung by the women at the workshop - Listen / Download

I would like to thank WE-ACTx for hosting me during my stay in Kigali. They had provided me with a bed, a full daily vegan meal, and moments of contemplation on the beautiful backyard balcony, where I sat to play, talk, read, and listen to the captivating song of the birds which visited the garden daily. Here's a compilation of the birds' songs that I managed to record:

The Song of Birds at WE-ACTx House - Listen / Download

Thank you everyone again, the staff members, the Latin volunteers, the peer parents, youth leaders, and the children for an unforgettable summer. I will see you soon.

Weeks of Wonder, Beauty, and Learning

2011-08-18T21:08:00.000+02:00

Three weeks ago I met forty-five Rwandan children. Almost all were shy, silent, still nameless, abashed by the tremendous amount of attention they suddenly received from so many adults. There were sixteen Rwandan youth leaders, a dozen American high-school volunteers from Chicago (who had to leave within a week), the hardworking staff members, and one silly, bald, white-skinned guitar player, who was me.
"Good morning!" I sang, strumming the A chord on the guitar, and the children repeated warily, "good morning...?"
"Mwaramutseho!" I continued in Kinyarwanda, and more joined in the singing.

(photo: Emily Siedlik)

Today, the same kids, all now with beautiful names and unique personalities, performed on stage in front of their families, playing dreams they had come up with during theater workshops, incorporating songs and dances from the music workshops. I sat at the side, playing the guitar when needed, set to help the children to remember movements and words, but they did not need me anymore. I stood there smiling, watching, listening to the kids singing the songs in perfect pitch, passionately, squeezing their lungs to the max, and my skin crawled with goosebumps.

(photo: Emily Siedlik)

During the last three weeks I gave five hours of training sessions to the youth leaders, and together we gave twenty-five music workshops to the children at the camp. The youth leaders, or peer parents, are the heart and soul of this program. They are the ones that will continue to look after these kids during the year, meet with them regularly, give them support, be their role models. Five hours of training were definitely not enough for the youth leaders; those five hours felt like the beginning of something that currently has no clear future, but they were probably some of the best hours of my life. Watching the youth leaders working with the kids during the music workshops at camp made me realize just a little bit more what truly is Musicians without Borders all about. Every day just a little bit more.

(photo: Emily Siedlik)

Every day was a journey of discovery, laughter, and rhythm. Every workshop was a thrill. Every child a wonder. I finished the days drained of energy, but inspired and motivated. The children amazed me with their musicality, their engagement, their passion to learn, their passion to have fun as all children should.
Some of these children's personal stories are now etched in my head forever, but are not important for this blog, nor are possible to share. And why should it matter? What makes the story of a Rwandan boy more tragic than the story of a girl in Brazil or Afghanistan? All deserve the childhood we wish our own children to have: full with love, laughter, learning, hope, and a little music.

(photo: Emily Siedlik)

One thing I learned from doing music with so many children in the last five years is that compassion cannot stem from grief. It is a universal, unending gift that all of us have in abundance and all of us must share without any prejudice. And that's exactly what I realized about Musicians without Borders these days: it is all about compassion without borders, without discrimination, without inhibitions. And every time I learn again how powerful it is. I learn from the people and children I meet. I learn, I'm learning, and I can't wait for the next music workshop, with children that I still don't know, but with whom I will share, and give, and receive, and remember forever.

Self-expression and Giraffes

2011-08-06T19:29:00.001+02:00

When I give workshops to children I concentrate on the flow of the activities, on the children's engagement, and on the level of energy. It is practically impossible to follow one child's participation in the group, to study his or her interaction with the other children, or to appreciate his or her development over time.

Training session with the youth leaders

After two intense training sessions I gave to the amazing youth leaders, and after they had had the chance to observe me for two days working with the kids, I decided to let them run full fifty-minutes workshops by themselves, so they can gain experience and confidence, and I can rest and observe. That was Thursday.

During the music workshops given by the youth leaders

When describing the goals of music workshops the term self-expression always appears. But what does it really mean in practice? I decided to focus on one child, a 12-year-old girl. In a musical improvisation game that lasts for about 5 minutes, where all children move to music in a circle, she gets one opportunity to express herself in front of all the children who in return follow her moves. Ten seconds out of 5 minutes are her own. Ten seconds in which she is the center of attention, she controls the energy and leads her friends and the youth leaders. This power which manifests itself in such a positive way during the music workshop is unique. It's empowering; it's constructive. It strengthens her self-confidence and identity. She is herself and no one else, and everyone acknowledges that. I watch the girl as her turn is approaching, a clear look of anticipation shows on her face, she is excited, maybe a bit nervous, is she thinking about her moves in advance or will she improvise on the spot? When her turn comes she wiggles her hips and waves her arms in circles, all children follow and we both smile heartily. It's over, another child in the circle will now experience the same. The music stops. All thirty children clap their hands enthusiastically, they cheer and laugh, and are ready for the next activity. I watch the girl again, she looks at her friends and that smile doesn't leave her. Only ten seconds, but what an experience!

One of the youth leaders leading an activity

The week is over. Friday we took the kids to Akagera, the Rwandan National Park, where we watched giraffes, zebras, bush-bucks and impalas graze and play in the immense savanna terrain, where cellphones fail to roam. We stopped the buses next to a family of giraffes, turned off the engines and stepped out. A tornado of high-pitched giggling and calls of wonder swept the valley, and the giraffes who are used to the song of birds and the occasional hyenas' laughter, but mostly silence, looked at our tiny human forms in perplexity; how much noise can such a small creature make?

“Shhh...” the youth leaders beckoned, “the giraffes will get frightened and run away.” The children fell silent and edged slowly toward the giraffes. These were moments of awe, where the only sound one could hear was of cameras switching hands, the woosh of wind, and the crunching of grass. The little girl was there as well among her friends, watching the giraffes leave in silence, their long legs brushing the grass. She doesn't know it yet, but next week she will be learning new songs, improvising sounds and rhythms and do songwriting with her friends. I think I will ask them to write a song about the animals they have seen, and about this particular one, the most graceful, the tallest of all, the one that almost never makes any sound, but observes the world from above, listens carefully, and just enjoys the music.

In Africa: First days thoughts

2011-08-01T19:40:00.000+02:00

I'm truly blessed to have had the opportunity to return to Rwanda this summer...

I'm crossing my legs in the airplane, sitting in the middle seat between a talkative, well-dressed man from Holland and a beautiful Rwandan woman. He is seeing his Rwandan girlfriend and bringing a tennis racket stretching machine to his friend at the Dutch embassy. She is visiting her homeland for first time after 4 years since she moved to America. We all stare at the green hills down below but probably see different things. It takes less than 3 hours to cover a distance that would take 5 weeks just a hundred years ago.

What would I see and hear if I did this route back then? In 5 weeks of traveling I would hear hundreds of different dialects and languages and accents, I would listen to magnificent music, prayers and chants, I would hear so many different songs of birds, they could fill the history of music, and the rhythms of galloping animals, of ritual drums and of women battering flour with sticks and stones.

Underneath me is Kenya, and there is Sudan, and on my far right is Congo, and soon we will fly over Uganda and enter Rwanda. Each country name brings up the inevitable connotations of war, poverty, hunger, diseases, genocide, rape. But what about food, and dance and music? What do I know about the people in Africa that doesn't include the stereotypical image of an African child with a distended belly?

Last year I felt like a stranger, and when we left I felt we had made new friends. Last week when I met these people again a feeling of joy swept through me; such a strong feeling that I hadn't expected. We hugged like a family reunited and laughed and sang songs from last year. The next three weeks I will be giving workshops to the youth leaders and work with the children at the summer camp. I'm so honored to be able to give them just a little bit back of what they have been giving me. Africa is a continent with unending amounts of wisdom, beauty, and love. I am trying to absorb everything but am only a child and have still much to learn. With teary eyes I looked into my friend's eyes, and he smiled and said, "Come on, Dan, let's make some music."

Traveling again, the project continues

2011-07-02T16:22:00.002+02:00

In 4 weeks I will travel again to Africa. And like last time, the flight will be my personal time machine, taking me to a continent so distant in its pace, life style, and mind set.

But the year will be the same year, and the world will still be the Earth we know. Internet and Facebook and Google are words well-known in Rwanda, but not as much as war and AIDS and malaria. I remember last time during a bus trip in the countryside we watched Rwandan men and women, young and old, some with babies swaddled on their backs, digging a hundred-kilometer-long trench at the side of the road. They were preparing the ground for fiber optic lines that would carry the Internet signal from Kenya to Rwanda.

Maybe when the Western world meets the Rwandan child in the virtual world it will re-discover the continent that it has forgotten decades ago. A continent overflowing with beautiful landscapes, beautiful music, and beautiful people.

This time I will work only with HIV+ youth and children in Kigali, Rwanda, as part of the yearly summer camp organized by WE-ACTx.

Here's a video from last year, taken in Kampala, Uganda, during a workshop with the orphans at Empower African Children's house.

Please show your support for Musicians without Borders by joining the community on Facebook or directly helping to sustain the organization.

-- Danny

Back in Jerusalem, Final Notes and Numbers

2010-09-08T23:29:00.000+02:00

That's it. On Sunday at 3.30 AM the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing landed, and 2 hours later we were back home in Jerusalem.

Almost everyone we met was very excited to hear that we come from Jerusalem, the holy city, but the best reaction goes to an eight-year-old orphan from SOS Children's Villages Entebbe who asked, “Were you there when Jesus got beaten up?”

We met so many wonderful people and organizations that do real significant and inspiring work. We are truly thankful for being able to work with so many different groups, and to learn so much from them. Rwanda and Uganda have many problems, but thanks to hardworking and motivated individuals there is a lot of hope in the air, and we have been blessed to meet some of these individuals.

Although we've been giving music workshops for several years now, we were again amazed to see the power of music. The way it can make people of all ages be free, happy, expressive, and creative, the way it can trigger emotions and encourage non-verbal dialogue and understanding, and the way it can heal.

We will finish with some numbers that best describe our trip:

2460 kilometers on the road (buses, cars, motors, and walking)

969 workshops participants (ages 3-70)

??? too many bananas

82 workshops

49 days

48 nights

14 cities and villages

9 hotels and guest houses

7 weeks

3 lakes

2 countries

1 organization to thank: Musicians without Borders

We would also like to thank Hivos for sponsoring this assessment trip to Africa, and for believing in MwB's work. Please support Musicians without Borders so these kind of projects can continue to happen.

Thank you for following our trip,

Love,

Danny & Fabienne

Empower African Children!

2010-09-04T12:28:00.001+02:00

Youth during music workshops at Empower African Children's house

“Music has made me what I am. It has made me self-confident. I don't know where I would be today without music.”

This was said in the end of a two-days training workshop we gave at Empower African Children house. It was said by B, a teenager whose story appears in the book Transcendent Spirit: The Orphans of Uganda, a telling and mesmerizing account of text and photographs of Ugandan orphans (photographs: Douglas Menuez, text: Rachel Scheier). Here's a quote from B's story in the book:

On the night of March 2, 1998, rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army crept into the tiny Ugandan village of Pacho. They hacked 11 people to death with machetes and burned their huts to the ground. Thirty-eight children were orphaned. Among them, little B.

The LRA, a murderous insurgent group that has terrorized northern Uganda for more than 2 decades, is most infamous for kidnapping village children and transforming them into child soldiers and sex slaves. B, then 5, and the other children of Pacho, were spared that night only because they were sleeping on the floor of a school several kilometers away when the rebels attacked—a safety practice known locally as “night commuting”.

B and his older brother, N, got news of the attack as they walked back to the village the next morning. B's mother died when he was an infant, so he was particularly dependent upon his father. B and N watched with horror that day as their father and the other victims of the LRA attack were hurriedly buried in shallow graves.

We strongly recommend that you order the book to support the EAC project, by placing your order through the website of Empower African Children: http://www.empowerafricanchildren.org

The 28 participants of the music training workshops that we gave at the EAC house welcomed us with a captivating performance of traditional African dance and music, which left us dumbstruck. During the workshops they proved to be so inspiring, talented and engaged, that we could really not hope for any better conclusion to our trip.

The girls performing for us

Empower African Children is a young, animated and vibrant organization which is set to provide a home and education to orphans and children at risk. They are currently building a school that will incorporate innovative forms of education, which will focus on students creativity, expression and preparation to real life.

The boys performing traditional dance, and drumming

The current group of children and youth at the EAC house have been traveling and performing traditional African music and dance, speaking about the situation in Uganda, their lives' stories, and giving workshops. From what we have seen and heard, they are absolutely extraordinary, and they want to give, and to teach others in their communities and other countries about the local culture and promote empowerment among other children and youth across the region.

Improvising with sticks

During the workshops, we improvised a lot, individually, in groups, and as a whole, and the vibe was so energetic and fun and musical, that everyone couldn't stop smiling and laughing. We promise to post videos when we come back to Jerusalem, but meanwhile use your imagination with the following audio bits:

Click here to listen to / download the traditional Ugandan song.

Click here to listen to / download the sticks improvisation session.

SOS Stories and Wild Animals

2010-09-03T06:45:00.000+02:00

Workshop with kids at SOS Children's Village Kakiri

The music workshops in Kakiri and Entebbe SOS Children's Villages were wonderful. The international organization SOS Children's Villages is celebrating 61 years of existence. In Uganda there are three villages in Gulu, Kakiri and Entebbe, home to 440 orphans or children at risk, and reaching 2500 children in the communities.

SOS Children's Village Entebbe

Check out their local websites:
www.sos-childrensvillagesuganda.org
www.sos-childrensvillagesuganda.org/gulublog
Facebook: sosougandafriends

SOS Children's Villages Kakiri

Fabienne has developed a theory that links between the children's exposure to violence and their eagerness to carry our stuff around. The connection seems far-fetched, and it might be a statistical mistake, but until now the observation cannot be denied. In Gulu, kids even took and carried Fabienne's shoes and scarf. Maybe it has to do with their need for attention and affection.

SOS Children's Villages Entebbe

SOS Children's Villages Kakiri

Entebbe lies on the shores of lake Victoria which attracts countless species of birds and other animals, namely a giant bone-crushing human-eating spider.

An Ugandan spider on our way to work

Okay, so the spider is the size of your palm, but on first sight you would also believe it could eat you. Here is a collection of other wild animals we have encountered on our way walking to the music workshops:

And some more wildly adorable children during the workshops:

And the daily quiz: How's this weird animal called? Does it have any bird friends? And why was it punished with a 6kg worth of beak and forehead?

Clubbing with Orphan Children in Gulu, Uganda

2010-08-24T19:16:00.000+02:00

Our next trip to the city of Gulu in the far north of Uganda took us two days to complete, including 14 hours in crammed buses, a night in a rundown hotel in the bustling capital Kampala, crossing the Equator (Danny swears he felt his stomach fluids churning in the other direction once we had passed it), and being observed by dozens of baboons on the side of the road that seemed to be baffled by the caged humans in the bus who passed through their territory (Fabienne missed the baboons, as she was stuck between heavy luggage and a sick pregnant woman, and could not turn her head far enough).

Walking through the market in Gulu, Uganda

Also, as we traveled northward, we saw less and less modern houses and more traditional huts made of straw and mud. It seems that we haven't seen the worst of this country's poverty yet. In Gulu we spent 3 days with children from the SOS Children Villages, an international organization set to give shelter and support to orphaned children, and to children at risk. In every house in the village there are about 10-12 children, with one adult woman who cares for them and loves them, and in return they call her Mama.

Working with kids at SOS Children Village Gulu

From all the hodgepodge of death-dealing viruses in Africa, Danny managed to catch a mild form of flu. So with a sneeze, a cough and a slight fever, he stayed in the hotel on the first day, and Fabienne had to give the first workshop alone to more than 80 children at once, ages 3 to 16. This was quite a challenge, but thanks to the passion and enthusiasm of Mama Kevin, the workshop was fantastically successful. In any case, when Fabienne returned home she made it very clear to Danny that he would not be sick the following day.

The northern region is not as dangerous as it used to be, but it is still turbulent as it is close to the borders with Sudan and Congo, where just last week the UN stood helpless as 200 women were raped in a village in east Congo, close to Gisenyi, Rwanda, where we were just ten days ago. Children are still being abducted and recruited to vicious militias, and poverty prevails.

It is apparently the wet season here right now. We discovered this on the second night when we woke up to a booming thunderstorm. The next day we gave a workshop together in somewhat muddy conditions.

Singing with the kids on the wet grass

In contrast to orphaned children in south Uganda who lost their parents mainly to various diseases, the parents of the children here in the north were mostly killed during the violent conflict in the region. Some children were recovered from militias who kidnapped them with the intent of turning them into child soldiers, some were found wounded by bullets or machetes in raided villages, one child was found when she was just a little baby, suckling her dead mother's breast.

The children's circumstances translate directly into their behavior. In comparison with the children in south Uganda or Rwanda, the children here are very active, occasionally violent (flip-flops and little children were flying in different directions during the workshops), cannot sit still for a long period, and have concentration issues.

These kids are much more energetic than the sometimes languid children we have met in our trip. Instead of us leading them from one activity to another, or having to excite them, the kids here were the ones who pushed us forward. They also sing and laugh SO LOUD that we came back to the hotel feeling like we had spent the afternoon clubbing: a peep in the ear, hangover, and a big silly smile. We indeed had so much fun!

So tomorrow we are heading back to central Uganda, where we will work in two more SOS Children Villages, in Kakiri and Entebbe, and another organization in Kampala... stay tuned!

On the road - sharing a taxi motor (boda-boda) in Gulu, Uganda

Uganda: Lake Bunyonyi and the Mindful Market Orphanage

2010-08-21T11:15:00.000+02:00

On Sunday we left Rwanda behind, and entered Uganda, a country which had suffered from continuous instability and war for decades just until recently. Uganda is home to some 35 million people that belong to dozens of different ethnicities and speak many different languages, a third live under the poverty line; that in itself makes it difficult to maintain peace in the country, not to mention that Uganda also borders with two of the largest and most unstable countries in Africa, Sudan and Congo.

The difference between Rwanda and Uganda was very apparent already at the border, where there was no public transportation and we had to hire taxi scooters transportation to Gisoro: The same distance cost half the price in Uganda compared with Rwanda, and the mechanics, engine and helmet situation of the Ugandan scooters is much worse, especially because in Uganda there are no helmets.

Goodbye Rwanda, Goodbye Helmets - Danny on a scooter in Kigali, Rwanda

The scenery crossing the border at the Cyanika border was staggering. Hills painted in a hundred shades of green situated at the feet of the three gigantic volcano mountains where gorillas dwell. We arrived in the town of Gisoro at noon, and again had to do with a chock-full private car which pretended to be a taxi, as the first bus to the more central city of Kabale, our destination, departed only in the evening. On the way, which is mostly unpaved, we got a flat tire.

On the road to Kabale, Uganda - the three peaks of the
Virunga volcanic mountain range can be seen in the distance

Waiting for the men to fix the flat tire, village children
gather around Fabienne

The day after we arrived in our guest house literally touching Lake Bunyonyi, we joined Busco, one of our local partners, and struggled to climb the mountain to the nearby village where the Mindful Market Orphanage is situated. The scenic route up the mountain was breathtaking, in both senses: when we reached the top, we were out of breath. Our protestations about the wearying climb felt very improper when later we heard from one of the teachers that every morning she climbs the mountain from the other side, which is much steeper, on a longer road, for two hours, and, hold tight, with a baby strapped to her back.

Struggling to climb the mountain to reach the orphanage


Walking back to the guest house in the afternoon with Catherine, one of the orphanage teachers, and her baby

The Mindful Market Orphanage was founded three years ago by Crystal, a Canadian woman with a huge heart. There are about 60 orphans age 3-6 who receive education, food, and especially love by the orphanage staff and teachers. Due to extreme poverty, bad nutrition, and lack of or poor access to medical treatment, the orphans lost their parents to various diseases and especially AIDS, TB, and malaria. Goodhearted individuals from richer countries sponsor the kids, or support the orphanage's education program, maintenance and expansion.

Dancing with the 3-6-year-old orphans

We have not encountered such extreme poverty since we came to Africa. The orphanage children received uniform, but the older kids in the village wear the same dirty, shredded clothes everyday. The vendors in the market in the village sell tattered clothes for 50 dollar cents, which, judging by their prints, were probably sent in charity packs by people in the West somewhere in the eighties. Some of the children have distended bellies as a result of malnutrition. Most eat one meal a day.

With the older kids

We worked with the orphans and with older children from the nearby village for three days. Two hours in the morning with the little ones – about 60 in number, and two hours in the afternoon with the other kids in the village, who every day seemed to multiply, as the word about our workshops spread quickly. In the last day we had more than 60 children in the afternoon session, from age 3 to 16. In the end of the last day they sang for us traditional songs.

The children singing traditional songs for us

Click here to download / listen to the first traditional song recording.

Click here to download / listen to the second traditional song recording.

Meanwhile, we enjoyed the most stunning waterscape of lake Bunyonyi and the surrounding hills, with mud and wicker huts dotting the steep slopes in between towering trees of palm and banana. Mornings were a symphony of chirps, tweets, moos, and cock-a'doodle-doos. The lake is also one of the only safe lakes in the country to swim.

Lake Bunyonyi - the little white dot in the water, in the center
of the photo, in between the palm trees, is Danny

Lake Bunyonyi at night

We have request: visit the website of the orphanage, and see if you can help by sponsoring a child, or spreading the word. We have too many beautiful photos from the workshops in the orphanage, so we put the best ones on a web album for you to enjoy:

Music workshops in Lake Bunyonyi, Uganda

Until next time!

The Last Days in Rwanda and Getting Ready For Uganda!

2010-08-17T19:20:00.002+02:00

So on Friday the 13^th we started our work in Gisenyi district. In the morning we had a productive meeting with the local coordinators of the organization Right to Play, and the director and the local coordinator of Vision Jeunesse Nouvelle (they still don't have a website). They reach tens of thousands of children and youth in the district, focusing on sports, theater, dance, music and health education activities.

Right to Play - When Children Play The World Wins

Then we continued to Imbabazi Orphanage, which is located about 28km off Gisenyi, and had to cover the last 8km of a ridiculously bumpy road on taxi scooters without helmets. There we gave a workshop for some boys, visited the orphanage's income-generating guest house and flower garden, and sat on the lawn with the older orphans and genocide survivors and played songs on the guitar in Kinyarwanda, Arabic, Hebrew and English (together we discovered that Let It Be is actually No Woman No Cry or vice versa). Most of the parents of these orphans were killed during the genocide. Some orphans had seen their parents murdered, their mothers raped. Fabienne sang to them the song in Kinyarwanda that the HIV+ women of the WE-ACTx women support group wrote in Kigali; there was a moment of silence, tears and smiles.

Playing guitar with orphans at the Imbabazi Orphanage

When the sun came out, Danny had to borrow Fabienne's scarf and said that because he is muzungu—the Swahili word (thanks Sharon for the correction) for foreigner or white man—he has to cover his head.

One of the girls then asked, “What is your name?”

“Danny.”

“You are not muzungu,” she said, “you are Danny.”

The next day we visited the center of New Youth Vision which includes a large gymnasium, a hall with a big stage, and a library. In the evening we sat on the shore of Lake Kivu, listening to the gentle waves lapping against the rocks, and had African tea, a spiced-up sweetened milky drink that can make your day.

African tea on the shores of Lake Kivu

Sipping tea, we were planning our trip up to Uganda on Sunday, but nothing would prepare us for the long, dusty, bumpy and most breathtaking road that we eventually took: covering the 250km between Gisenyi in Rwanda to Lake Bunyonyi in Uganda in one day, mostly on unsurfaced roads, next to cloud-enshrouded volcanic peaks where gorillas roam, including passing the border between the two countries, is not a task to be taken lightly...

View Larger Map

Music workshop at the Mindful Market orphanage
next to Lake Bunyonyi, Uganda... more in the next post

The work with the kids around Lake Bynyonyi is incredible and very different from Rwanda. It is by far the poorest area we have visited since we came to Africa, but you will have to wait for the next post for stories and photos!

Goodbye Kigali, Hello Gisenyi, and Some Drumming

2010-08-14T14:38:00.001+02:00

Last Thursday we packed our dirty socks and left Kigali. It was not easy. We had been working with the HIV+ youth and kids, the HIV+ women support groups, and with the WE-ACTx team for three weeks and naturally we became attached to them. They taught us to sing songs in Kinyarwanda, to dance and drum, and to eat too much carbs for lunch (bananas, potatoes, bananas, rice, bananas, sweet potatoes, bananas, beans, bananas, and cooked bananas). They shared their wishes with us: the wish for health, the wish for unity, the wish for love. And we learned to recognize them by their mere laughter.

A typical Rwandan carbs-drenched meal (minus the meat)
(the bananas were eaten/removed from/hidden under the food)

The week before we left we joined the weekly trip of the summer camp. This time the trip included a visit to the national museum, devouring ice cream at the Inzozi Nziza, and the highlight: a drum spectacle and workshop given by the Ingoma-Nshya (see here, and here). This women drum group was established by widows and genocide survivors, but is now open for other women as well.

The performance of Ingoma-Nshya

The show included traditional drumming, dance and singing, and was very powerful and impressive. After the women dazed us with their performance, we all got the chance to drum as well.

Click here for the first audio file: singing and a long drumming sequence.
Click here for the second audio file: singing, children laughing, and some drumming!

The final show of the WE-ACTX summer camp was incredible! The children sang, danced and drummed, and their mothers clapped and laughed and cheered. In the end, everyone came up on stage and danced together. After the show we approached the mother of P, the deaf child in the program. She was speechless; her son cannot hear, and barely speaks, but she had just heard him playing the guitar during the performance.

We left Kigali and are now in Gisenyi, a north-western city of Rwanda, on the shores of Lake Kivu, bordering with the city of Goma in DRC (the Congo).

View Larger Map

On first sight Lake Kivu might seem like a pastoral, happy, fish-friendly, come-and-swim-its-perfectly-safe kind of lake, but don't let it fool you! It is one of the most vicious and morbid lakes out there.

Lake Kivu, looking innocent

This bit of information is from Wikipedia: "Lake Kivu is one of three known exploding lakes, along with Cameroonian Lake Nyos and Lake Monoun, that experience violent lake overturns. Analysis of Lake Kivu's geological history indicates sporadic massive biological extinction on millennial timescales. The trigger for lake overturns in Lake Kivu's case is unknown but volcanic activity is suspected. The gaseous chemical composition of exploding lakes is unique to each lake; in Lake Kivu's case, methane and carbon dioxide due to lake water interaction with a volcano. The amount of methane is estimated to be 65 cubic kilometers (if burnt over one year, it would give an average power of about 100 gigawatts for the whole period). There is also an estimated 256 cubic kilometers of carbon dioxide. The methane is reported to be produced by microbial reduction of the volcanic CO₂^[3]. The risk from a possible Lake Kivu overturn would be catastrophic, dwarfing other documented lake overturns at Lakes Nyos and Monoun, because of the approximately two million people living in the lake basin."

Unsuspecting fishermen going to work in the late afternoon

We hope to write to you again.

Tuzarwubaka! We will rebuild!

2010-08-14T13:34:00.000+02:00

On Wednesday we were sitting in Kigali in a meeting with Global Youth Connect, when we heard the explosion of the deadly grenade attack some several hundred meters away from us. If it happened in Jerusalem or Amsterdam, the news would probably reach every reader of this blog, but Kigali is the capital of Rwanda, a country in Africa, which is the continent that the world likes so much to forget. We hope that this country that is rebuilding so beautifully after the terrible genocide will not suffer from more attacks like this last one.

Here is a recording of the song of rebuilding Rwanda that was written after the genocide, sung by the HIV+ children and youth leaders of the WE-ACTx summer camp during the final show. The song was accompanied by a dance with sticks that we have developed together with the youth leaders.

Click here to download / listen to the song

Tuzarwubaka!

Tuzarwubaka, abana babanyarwanda

Turugire nkaparadizo

Kwisi yose we

Tuzarwubaka!

Na [NAME] barwubake

Tuzarwubaka!

We will rebuild!

We will rebuild, the children of Rwanda

We will make it like paradise

And the whole world

And [NAME] will rebuild

We will rebuild!

(for [NAME] each time they sing a name of another child!)

Finally Some Audio! Singing During Our Cyangugu Workshops

2010-08-09T19:02:00.002+02:00

As we promised, we finally upload some audio files extracted from the videos. Unfortunately, the Internet connection here is too slow to upload videos, so you will have to use your imagination... we do provide photos taken from the videos to help you!

This post has 3 music files recorded during our workshops in Cyangugu, on the first week of our trip.

1. A song that the participants of the youth training sang for us.

Click here to listen to/download the audio file.

The young participants of the workshop singing for us

2. The song that was written by one of the groups (4 girls) during the exercise to write words to a given melody, and to adjust the melody to their own musical tradition.

Click here to listen to/download the audio file.

Sing along:

Nkunda kuririmba iyo ndi mubandi

ngashishikazwo no gukina nabo

bimara imibabaro yanjye yose

bikantera kunezerwa cyane

I love to sing when I'm with others

I'm encouraged to play with them

it helps to take away all my sorrows

it makes me very happy

The 4 girls who wrote the lyrics and sang for us

3. The famous sima-ma-ka song, sung by more than 200 children at the St. Mathew's Primary School (you can hear our incredible companion, Ephraim, who was filming, singing and encouraging the children!)

Click here to listen to/download the audio file.

Hundreds of children dancing and singing sima-ma-ka!

Don't Just Do Something, Sit There!

2010-08-09T14:13:00.001+02:00

Don't Just Do Something, Sit There! is the title of an acrylic painting by Nicole Wageck. The painting appears in the 2010 Peace Calendar which is pinned to the living room wall at the WE-ACTx house, where the beautiful people who organize the HIV+ children summer camp (Gia, Noam, and Sophie) are staying. Sarcasm is what we get from this title, and the fact that this title is displayed at the WE-ACTx house is entertaining, because these people almost never sit down, and always do something!

Last Sunday we visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial, which includes a beautiful garden, a highly informative museum, including a section about other genocides in modern history, and mass graves of thousands of people.

Part of the garden in the Kigali Genocide Memorial
This section represents the unity, beauty and history of Rwanda

The genocide was orchestrated by the Rwandan government and army, but was largely executed by hundreds of thousands of the common people who were brainwashed and incensed against their own neighbors, friends and even family members who according to the propaganda belonged to a different ethnicity group. About 1 million Rwandans were murdered during the 100-days genocide by other Rwandans, while the international community stood and watched and did nothing to stop it; that was 1994.

One of the several mass graves at the
Kigali Genocide Memorial

The memory of the genocide and its repercussions continue to be very palpable today, sixteen years later. According to a national trauma survey conducted by UNICEF in 1995 , 99.9% of the children who lived during the genocide and survived had witnessed violence; 79.6% experienced death in the family; 69.5% witnessed someone being killed or injured; 61.5% were threatened with death; 90.6% believed they would die; 57.7% witnessed killings or injuries with machete; 31.4% witnessed rape or sexual assault; and 87.5% saw dead bodies or parts of bodies. Today, it is estimated that almost 200,000 Rwandans live with HIV, many as a consequence of genocidal rape, or being born after the genocide to an HIV+ mother. Also, many men were intentionally cut and infected by HIV.

Working with HIV+ children at the WE-ACTx summer camp

Most of the time we forget that the children we work with have HIV. Then one of them falls and hurts his knee, and we must put on latex gloves to bandage the wound. For them, good nutrition and the medical care that WE-ACTx is providing are the things that keep them alive and healthy, but the love and support they get from their families, from the other children, from the youth leaders and the WE-ACTx and summer camp staff, and the theater and dance and music and laughter during the workshops, these are the things that give them a better childhood.

Working with WE-ACTx kids and mothers in Nyacunga, near Kigali

Music workshop in Nyacunga, near Kigali

Some of our readers asked us how they can support this and similar projects. You can make a donation to Musicians without Borders, and for the musicians among you, check out Musicians4Musicians. Thank you!

Three Short Stories

2010-08-05T20:47:00.000+02:00

Today during a water break in the summer camp, I practiced a song on the guitar that I wanted to play and sing with the women support group in the afternoon. P, the deaf child, who played the paper piano for Danny (see this post), was sitting next to me. I took his hand and put it on the body of the guitar, so P could feel the music I was playing.

I noticed his left hand trying to make the same movements as mine in the air. After a while I decided to give him the guitar so he could actually place his fingers on the strings instead of playing the air guitar. He searched for a moment, and then put his fingers on the right place to play the D chord. He stroke the strings with his right hand and looked extremely happy.

P playing the guitar
Because of his HIV+ condition, we must keep his identity secret, but
believe me, he had a huge smile on his face

I decided to teach him one of the famous camp songs that the other children were singing all the time. When we sing the song, we use different movements, and P knows these movements well. I showed him the chords we play with each movement. We played the song many times; I was singing and showing him the movements, and he played the right chords. The rhythm of the right hand, the way he stroke the chords, where coordinated with my body percussion. I was amazed by how good the song sounded; nobody would ever guess that this kid was deaf. I wrote down the song on a piece of paper and we went through it without the guitar, playing in the air, so he can practice at home. Now P has one week to practice before the final show. I can't wait to see the face of his parents when they see their son accompanying the other children on the guitar.

*****

I'm in the middle of a workshop for a WE-ACTx women support group. Suddenly it smells as if I'm standing next to the toilets (holes in the ground) of the summer camp. I look to the ground and see one of the women's baby sitting in the middle of a puddle. The baby is playing with the stick I just gave him, while the women are busy making music with sticks. After five minutes I realize that the smelly puddle is actually pee, the baby's. Next day, I told some of the youth leaders in the summer camp about the stick that was drenched with pee. Now when I hand out the sticks for a dance or game, we all first sniff the stick, in the hope that we did not receive that special one.

*****

I enter a room for another women support group. It is already the fifth time I work with a women group here in Rwanda, so I'm well-prepared and looking forward to it.

But the first thing I see are some big Rwandan men, in my age. My first thought is that they sent me to the wrong place; the women must be waiting for me in another room. The trauma counselor, who barely speaks some French and English, sits down. So this is the right room. Maybe the men are just hanging out and will leave as soon as the women arrive. Women do arrive, but the men don't leave. It turns out to be a mixed support group for HIV+ men and women, ages 20-30. I feel quite uncomfortable (but smile as if this was exactly what I was prepared for) and rethink my workshop. I take out the activities that seem inappropriate for men and add some others that I hope will be positively received by the men AND the women.

From the first minute, I know the workshop will be just fine. We do a game with our names and movements, and for some reason the group doesn't stop laughing. Although I don't think the movements are that funny, apparently they are for them. They help each other finding movements, explain the game to late comers, and play the game as if it is the best in the world.

Afterwards we dance and the workshop becomes even more energetic. During the improvisation with the sticks, the mood suddenly changes. We are making real music and people are enjoying the rhythms, moving with their whole bodies and their heads. When we play an improvisation in which every person gets to play a solo while the others play a background rhythm, both women and men take the opportunity to go crazy with the music. Eyes are being closed, rhythms go faster and more complicated and some of the participants seem to play all their anger and frustration away. After this intense improvisation, we have some other fun dances and songs so we can all go home in a positive mood. I can't wait for next week, but to make the gender balance complete I will bring Danny with me.

Work vs. Vacation, Round 2

2010-08-05T18:37:00.001+02:00

Last Sunday was our first day without work since we started the trip two weeks earlier. Unfortunately, everything there is to see in Kigali is closed on Sunday, so Danny decided that we had to make an 8 kilometer hike to an artificial lake they created in the end of the Kigali Golf Club (Fabienne thought it was a bad bad idea all along). According to our travel guidebook, the lake is supposed to host a wide variety of warm-blooded, beaked, colored or not, plumed or feathered animals, which are generally referred to as birds and do not really interest us. The 8 km plod through the hot city streets at midday was not very exciting to say the least. Local Rwandans were staring at our sweat-soaked miserable bodies with extreme bewilderment. On the other hand, there were many sweet, photogenic African children on the way smiling and waving at us from a distance, but when we got closer they would say money or give me money or give me the money.

Half of the artificial lake and half of Danny

When we eventually reached the artificial lake, it indeed honored its description by being square and stinky, and there was not a single bird to watch, because unlike us, the birds were clever enough to stay in the shadows during the hottest time of the day. Just before covering the last stretch of road leading to the lake, a British woman ran in our direction saying that she had just been mugged. We offered her to escort her to the British embassy and gladly left the lake behind. It turned out that she is a music teacher who came to teach at the ReGeneration Music School of the Solace Ministries, giving piano, singing and flute lessons to genocide survivors and their children. We exchanged details and decided to visit each other's programs; we exhaled a sigh of relief: our free afternoon to enjoy without work had finally received a meaning!

Work vs. Vacation, Round 1

2010-08-03T17:24:00.005+02:00

People here ask us all the time if we're also going to enjoy our stay in Rwanda or only work. We usually answer that we're already enjoying our work so much! We are so grateful to be part of Musicians without Borders and to be able to do this work. The children's laughter and light in their eyes, the thank yous we receive from the youth leaders, the tears and smiles during Fabienne's work with the women support groups, the music and singing and dancing...everything is so totally fulfilling that the prospect of driving eight hours to a national park in an overstuffed minibus to spot a disinterested lion snoozing under an acacia tree seems terribly mundane.

However, when we were offered to join the HIV+ children summer camp on a trip to Akagera National Park we immediately said yes, because what are we going to tell our grandchildren in thirty years from now when they point to a giraffe in the encyclopedia of extinct animals? That we skipped a chance to see a wild one running in slow motion?

Those are giraffes

Hippos can run up to almost 50 km/h and are one
of the most dangerous animals in Africa

What are you lookin' at?

Okay, so you are probably telling yourself, "great, yet another bunch of African safari photos...who cares?!" but what you can't see on the photos are the children on the bus, who did not stop singing and dancing for 15 hours! They sang traditional songs and songs that we had taught them, but the loudest and most joyous song, the song that even the bus driver joined in, the song with the simplest and strongest words, was the one that was written just after the horrible genocide and says: We will rebuild Rwanda, We will rebuild Rwanda!

A Deaf Child's Paper Piano

2010-08-02T18:22:00.006+02:00

In the HIV+ children summer camp there is one kid, P, who is deaf. P participates in all the activities. He doesn't sing or talk, but he dances and improvises with the sticks, and he drums and plays almost all the games. The other kids help him when needed and show him with their body language what to do when we give the instructions. P has a charming smile. When I play the guitar, P likes to rest his hand on the guitar body and feel the vibrations. Today, after lunch, P pointed to my notebook and showed me that he wanted to draw something. This is what he wrote down:

The C / Do major scale that P, a deaf HIV+ child, wrote in my notebook

Then he placed his fingers on the words that he wrote and moved them from left to right like this: thumb, index, middle, thumb, index, middle, ring, pinky. To those of you who do not play the piano, P had just played for me the Do or C major scale. I looked up at him; P returned a smile, shrugged and walked away to join his friends, and I was left with a shiver that ran up my spine, and a very special piano made from paper.

Umuganda and Another Women Support Group

2010-08-01T09:22:00.000+02:00

A report by Fabienne

Today our meeting with the Rwandan and American youth leaders was postponed, because today it is Umuganda, which is a monthly national Rwandan holiday. Every last Saturday of the month, all Rwandan citizens are expected to devote their morning to cleaning the streets and their environment. Cars are prohibited, shops are closed, and everyone is seen wth a broom and mop (or the Rwandan equivalent). So it was a good time for me to do some hand laundry, especially after the 15-hour trip we had yesterday with the children from the summer camp (about which Danny will write later). The water of the laundry turned completely brown-red, a nice souvenir from driving through the African dust.

On Thursday, after the summer camp with the children, I had another music workshop with a different women support group. This time 18 women attended, as well as a local trauma counselor. It was a huge challenge for me because the counselor did not speak English and both her and my (but especially my) French are far from perfect. Anyhow, the combination of a trauma counselor and a musician was interesting, because the trauma counselor could use some of the music material and processes for her work with the women. For example, when I asked the women for their wishes to write a song in Kinyarwanda, they had a discussion led by the counselor about wishes for their future and about the things that really matter in life.

These are the words the women came up with:

Ndifuza urukundo

Ndifuza Ubumwe

Ndifuza Ubusabane

Ndifuza Guseka

Ndifuza Kubyine

I wish for love

I wish for unity

I wish for friendship

I wish to smile

I wish to dance

I used a beautiful melody from the Rahbani brothers that was surprisingly easy to learn for the women and we sang the song together. Because the women's identity must be kept secret, and the personal, sensitive and emotional nature of the workshops, I can not take photos, videos or record during the workshop. Although I don't like hearing my own voice, and I'm definitely not a singer, I thought this blog entry could use some music... so I recorded the song just with my voice. Please use your imagination to hear the voices of these beautiful and strong women while listening to the song!

Click here to download the MP3 recording

The wish to smile and dance that was expressed in the song, came back in the evaluation. One woman said: “We can not smile or laugh at home, we are not allowed to, and anyhow there is no reason to smile. But during the music workshop we were free to express ourselves and smile and laugh!”And another one added: “We don't do sport and don't have physical exercise, today we got the chance to move and that feels good.”

In the beginning of the workshop I noticed that some of the women showed problems moving freely. Their movements were not fluent or very restricted, and sometimes it seemed as if they couldn't control their limbs, but this completely disappeared during the workshop and at the end everyone danced and moved freely.

I thank these women for giving me so much inspiration and motivation, and I truly hope that MwB will be able to set up a project here to empower this important group in the society. Rev. Emmanuel, with whom we worked in Cyangugu, said: “If we cure the women, we cure the society, because the society is dependent on the women.”

About Mosquitoes and Music

2010-07-31T10:03:00.001+02:00

A Report by Danny

Bzzz. The Rwandan mosquitoes are nasty sophisticated little aviators. The walls of our hotel room are smeared with mosquito residue. But don't let it fool you: those are the remains of the great-great-great-grandmothers of the nowadays Rwandan mosquitoes, which are faster, smarter, and one-hundred-percent immune to any insect repellent lotion, spray, or ointment they are trying to sell you in the West. The modern day mosquitoes can feel your pulsating bloodstream from many many a meter away, and they coordinate their assault in such a worldly-wise manner that a cigar-smoking chimpanzee on a unicycle reciting Psalms might seem rather dumb. But the worst thing about them is that they reportedly carry the eukaryotic protist of the genus plasmodium parasite, commonly known as malaria. Mind you, only female mosquitoes actually bite and transmit the disease. So much for gender balance in Rwanda.

The wall of our room at the guest house
(heavily photoshop-ed to look much worse than it is)

We have spent a good deal of money on malaria-prevention pills, insect repellent role-ons and a queen-size mosquito net. However, a particularly shrewd she-mosquito managed to penetrate my cocoon at night and hummed loudly around my right ear. While I was trying to figure out in which pitch she was humming, she had already stung me on my forehead.

Our anti-mosquito anti-malaria anti-wallet supplies

So I decided to do some research about music and mosquitoes, and stumbled upon an enlightening post on the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra blog, which basically informs us that Mr. Mosquito and Mrs. Mosquito might not do the mommy-daddy thing unless they hum in a harmonically perfect musical interval: http://knoxvillesymphony.blogspot.com/2009/02/musical-mosquito.html

Some more information about mosquitoes and frequencies: http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20090121/Note3.asp

Question: does a mosquito's hum alternate between D and F?

Answer: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1999/does-a-mosquitos-hum-alternate-between-d-and-f

So tonight, before going to sleep, I'm going to detune my guitar, or more precisely, tune it wrongly, play and hum Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm by Crash Test Dummies, open the windows wide, and hope for the best.

Music for the WE-ACTx Women Support Group

2010-07-27T21:04:00.000+02:00

In this post, I would like to share with you a very special experience from today. After a morning of music workshops in the children's summer camp, I spent the afternoon with WE-ACTx' women support group in a small town next to Kigali. The ten women in the group are all HIV-positive, are victims of domestic violence, and come from a low socio-economic class. One of the participants, who was born in a refugee camp in Tanzania, told me that she has problems to read and write because three years ago she had been in a coma for ten days after someone tried to murder her. She showed me scars and told me that she was thankful that she had survived the attack, but that she would never be the same again.

During the workshop, we danced together, sang and drummed with sticks. The women got a chance to invent their own rhythms and movements. Although some were a bit shy in the beginning to be creative, in the end everyone came up with her own individual movements and rhythms.

I taught the women a melody which we sang using their words: the women shared their wishes with everyone, and together we wrote and sang their wishes in Kinyarwanda:

Ndifuza Amahoro

Ndifuza Ubuzima bwiza

Ndifuza umugisha uturuka ku mana

Ndifuza gukira no kubaho neza

I wish for peace

I wish for health

I wish for a blessing from God

I wish to be rich and cured

After the workshop, a clinical psychologist, who runs the support group, led a guided evaluation of the workshop in which every woman had the chance to share her thoughts and talk about her feelings and emotions. Here are some of their words:

“I was so tired when I came to the group today, but now I have new energy again and I'm not tired anymore.”

“Now I'm in a good mood, I feel I can breathe again and my blood is streaming through my whole body.”

“It reminds me of my childhood, when I was in a traditional dance group. The workshop brought me back to that period and that makes me feel happy.”

The clinical psychologist added: “It feels very special. I feel support from all the women; we all supported each other today without talking but through the music and the movements. Usually we share our sad stories and we cry, we cry a lot, all together. But today we were smiling and laughing together. This brings new energies to the group and it gives me the motivation to continue my work with this group.”

Love to you all,

Fabienne

Summer Camp in Kigali with a visit by Lauryn Hill

2010-07-26T19:16:00.000+02:00

On Friday we said goodbye to the wonderful people in Cyangugu (including the fishermen) and did our way back to Kigali, Rwanda's capital. Until August 12, we will be working here with HIV-infected youth who are treated by the WE-ACTx clinic. These youth lead the summer camp activities for 45 HIV-infected children. We train them to do music workshops with the children, but more importantly to integrate their own traditional music and dances with the methods and materials of Musicians without Borders.

This week a group of 8 American high school students join the camp and the training. The summer camp is made possible thanks to these beautiful young people who did most of the fund raising themselves back in Chicago.

During the genocide in 1994, many women were raped with the purpose also to infect them with HIV. This led to a whole new generation of newborns who carry the virus. Treatment is expensive, and cannot reach everyone, but WE-ACTx are doing an incredible work, and we strongly advise you to have a look at their website: http://www.we-actx.org/

Mardge Cohen, WE-ACTx' medical director, wrote on WE-ACTx blog: “...each week Anne Marie Bamukunde, the psychiatric nurse, appeals for funds for patients to buy underpants or some food prior to prescribing anti depressants for those referred to her.. She told me this week that in all her previous work in Rwanda she had never seen families with so many needs and vulnerabilities until she came to work at WE-ACTx. This is the refrain that we continue to hear, echoing Dr. Jonathan Mann’s words on human rights and social determinants of health from two decades ago 'No matter how and in whom it starts, HIV always finds the most vulnerable in any country.'”

On Saturday we gave the first training to the Rwandan youth and the American group. On Sunday we gave a music workshop to 150 children ages 5-14 during the Sunday WE-ACTx children program, in which the youth leaders had a chance to observe us at work.

Music Workshop during
the Sunday WE-ACTx Children Program

And today (Monday) was the first day of the summer camp, in which the youth leaders led the activities we taught them, and we learned their songs and games. Soon you might hear a child participating in a Musicians without Borders program somewhere else in the world singing a song in Kinyarwanda!

The youth leaders are truly inspiring. They have unending energies and the kids are crazy about them. Because of the sensitivity and the stigmas associated with being HIV-positive, we cannot post any photos of the youth or the children, so you will have to use your imagination this time.

We do post a special photo of Lauryn Hill who was photographed by Danny the paparazzi during the sound check for her show last night in Kigali in the Pan African Dance Festival. We didn't really know that miss Hill was going to perform; we were invited to join the WE-ACTx youth leaders group and expected African traditional dance and got one of the Fugees instead...hey, can't complain.

Hey Lauryn, why don't you join Musicians without Borders?

Last Day in Cyangugu

2010-07-24T18:49:00.000+02:00

After the end of the 2^nd day of training, we took a ride to the Congolese border. We were told about the situation right now in the Congo, probably the richest country in Africa, but also one of the most chaotic and dangerous. In Kamembe, on the Rwandan side, there are branches of all the different banks operating in Rwanda. The reason turned to be this: gold traders pass the border from Congo with sacks of money, sometimes spending the whole day counting it in the banks for depositing.

A man carrying many somethings on his bicycle in Kamembe, Cyangugu

The 3^rd and last day in Cyangugu was incredible. We set the fishermen singing alarm clock to 7 am, and this time Danny managed to make a short video, which he insists on uploading soon. Together with Ephraim, we headed to the St. Matthew's Nursery and Primary School where hundreds of children were waiting for us on their last day of school before the summer vacation.

Fabienne van Eck as Angelina Jolie in
a new African romance film, coming soon...

The first few minutes of the workshop, around 30 children gathered around...

All parents were there as well to receive their children's diplomas. We started outside with 30 children, and soon enough we were singing and dancing with almost 300!

More children joined, and more children joined, and more children joined...

and more children joined, and more children joined, and more children joined...

Before we did the water drop dance, Danny pointed to the sky and said, “I feel a drop of rain!”

One of the children called back, “Liar!”, which was true.

Dancing the water drop dance

However, after dancing the dance, the first drop actually fell (which is very uncommon in the dry season) and we had to split into smaller groups and work in dark classrooms until the end of the morning.

Continuing in the dark classrooms...

Later in the day we were invited to meet the choir at the local cathedral, where an old electrical organ pipped loudly at us when we switched it on. We listened to the choir's fascinating singing in Kinyarwanda, and we taught them a song in Hebrew and Arabic.

We asked the choir what is needed in their villages and communities. They said that they would like to locate musicians so they can work together and make music for the communities, and that they need music instruments and training.

That evening we had a long conversation with Rev. Emmanuel. He is involved in a beautiful program where several times during the year, they bring big groups of women together (up to 150). Some of these women are genocide survivors, widows of men who were murdered during the genocide, others are married to men who murdered other people in the genocide and now sit in prisons, and some are HIV-positive as a result of mass rape during the genocide. These sessions are facilitated by professionals, such as psychologists, social workers and therapists. The purpose is to give the opportunity to one side to repent and apologize for the action of their husbands, and the other one to forgive; then there is a common prayer. It ends with a lot of tears, hugging, laughter and relief.

Four Things We Can Learn From Rwandans

2010-07-24T18:26:00.000+02:00

Smoking

The only smoke you might see is of cooking, the mist in the mornings, or a car stuck on its way up a hill. Rwandans do not smoke in public whatsoever. After five days we saw the first and only Rwandan smoking in the shadow of his car, and we were told that he was probably a soldier, or a retired one...

Shouting

People do not shout here. Not to each other, not at the children, and not into their mobile phones.

Plastic Bags

If you're caught carrying a plastic bag you are committing a crime according to the Rwandan law. This law creates an atmosphere of environmental awareness and overall cleanness in the streets.

Gender Balance

From laying pipes in trenches to parliament membership, women are well-represented. 56% of parliament members in Rwanda are...women!

A signboard on the main street of Kamembe, Cyangugu:
"Give a red card to gender based violence and child abuse"

Second Day of Training In Cyangugu

2010-07-21T16:00:00.000+02:00

Today again we woke up to the singing of fishermen. Danny is almost convincd to try fish, and meanwhile insists on posting another fishermen photo, this time in action:

Morning Call: Fishermen at Work

After a short breakfast and a glance into Big Brother Africa house, we continued another 4 hours and finished the two-day training for youth ages 17-22 in Cyangugu, a district on the border with Congo. In one of the activities we asked the youth to write words in their own language Kinyarwanda to a song we taught them. They also changed the melody a bit.

Fabienne leads an activity during the training workshop in Cyangugu

Here is what one of the groups came up with:

Nkunda kuririmba iyo ndi mubandi

ngashishikazwo no gukina nabo

bimara imibabaro yanjye yose

Which means in English:

I love to sing when I'm with others

I'm encouraged to play with them

it helps to take away all my sorrows

We also have a video of them singing, and we promise to upload it when we get better Internet connection.

Danny teaching the trainees a dance during the training workshops in Cyangugu

In the end of the workshop we had a short feedback session. We asked them about the needs of the people and local communities so we can better understand if and how Musicians without Borders can assist in the future. They all expressed the urgent need for a project where youth can be trained to work with other youth and children because of the high percentage of orphans and genocide survivors. They said that they can use music as a tool to forget and to deal with the terrible things they had gone through, and to be away from the sadness and sorrow, and to feel free...

The trainees in Cyangugu during the training workshop

And The Journey Begins...

2010-07-21T15:31:00.000+02:00

After a trip that took more than 24 hours, with three take-offs and three landings, we arrived on Sunday night in Kigali, Rwanda. As a bonus, our backpack arrived as well, and also Danny's guitar, which caught a slight cold.

Because of the 8-hour delay in our connection flight, Ethiopian Airlines arranged for us a hotel to rest in Addis Ababa which is enjoying a very wet season right now. We slept like kings on a queen-size bed in a 4-star hotel for 3 hours.

Showers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The airplane changed its course and brought us first to Bujumbura, Burundi. Ethiopia --> Burundi --> Rwanda view from the airplane was spectacular, an unending snake-like river flowing in between huge lumps of green mountains. Finally, we arrived in Kigali where three angels from WE-ACTx were waiting for us (WE-ACTx is the organization where we will work next week).

As promised, the next day we took a bus to Cyangugu in the west. We sat down next to the bus speaker which for 6.5 hours played American hip-hop music from the 90s. Fortunately enough, the scenery outside was so mesmerizing that we forgot all about Will Smith's wish to be taller. They should change the name of Rwanda from the land of a thousand hills to the land of two-hundred thousand hills. On the road you go up and down more often than right or left. When the bus entered the enchanting Nyungwe Forest next to Cyangugu, several monkeys on the side of the road welcomed us with a grin.

The view from the bus on the way from Kigali to Cyangugu

So on the first day we did what Fabienne had promised her mother not to do. We took a bus that drove into the night, and when we reached Cyangugu, we had to cover another 5 kilometers, each of us sitting behind a 14-year-old kid who drove a shaky scooter weighing less than our backpack. We slept in a bungalow engulfed in the song of crickets and frogs.

In the morning we woke up to the African singing of fishermen on Lake Kivu, with sprawling hills of green, enormous banana trees, and Congo in the backdrop. There is a leader in the group, and the rest answer his melodic call; they sing mostly about fishery. This marked the beginning of an amazing musical day.

A fisherman returning from the morning fishing

We met with rev. Emmanuel for breakfast, where he told us that in less than an hour we were going to start training 80 teenagers in a secondary school for 6 hours (!!!). Since we did not know really what to expect, this was the greatest challenge we could have imagined.

When we entered the classroom, there were 30 girls and 1 boy, ages 17-22, including the headmaster of the school, rev. Emmanuel, and Ephraim, a youth worker who translated and helped us throughout the workshop. They welcomed us with African songs which touched our hearts and covered us with goosebumps. (We promise to upload videos when we can.)

Rwandan youth during a music training workshop, Cyangugu, Rwanda

We were deeply impressed and moved by their amazing voices. Everyone sings so beautifully! They naturally harmonize the songs that we teach them in 2 or 3 voices. We practiced different activities with the whole group, and in the afternoon continued with a smaller group who stayed with us for 2 days for more intense training.

During the training in Cyangugu

Cyangugu is home to 20,000 Rwandans. There are many orphans, survivors of the genocide. In the school there are 600 pupils, mostly girls, of which 220 are orphans. We ended the day by walking to the main city in Cyangugu district, Kamembe, escorted and guided by Ephraim, who proved to be a wonderful companion.

The town of Kamembe, Cyangugu district, Rwanda

Last gem: the restaurant in the Peace Guest House where we're staying has a single TV which is 24-7 set to the Big Brother Africa – All Stars channel. The only positive thing about it is that in the program they rarely ever fight, only sing and sing and sing and dance...

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Final Preparations

2010-07-16T16:48:00.000+02:00

While Fabienne is commuting Jerusalem<-->Bethlehem at least twenty times a day, busy with arranging music workshops in summer camps for hundreds of children with trainees of Musicians without Borders, I am left at home with all the last minute preparations...

Malarone.

Mosquito net.

Guitar strings.

A place to sleep on the first night...

Tomorrow night, at 1 AM, Ethiopian Airlines airplane will take off and fly downwards to Ethiopia, stop there, continue to Uganda, stop there, and then continue to Rwanda, where we will spend 4 weeks, after which we will travel by land back to Uganda for another 3 weeks, in total of 7 weeks!

Next to training youth to do music workshops with children in Kigali, Rwanda during a summer camp, we will mostly be doing music workshops with children in different centers, villages and schools. Some children are refugees, some are orphans, some are HIV-positive, and some like to play football, eat ice-cream and smack their little sisters on the head.

The day after we arrive we will already take a bus and start a 4-hour drive west to Cyangugu:

View Larger Map

Here we will spend 4 days working with children from a local school, and giving a short training workshop to choir members.

We don't take much with us. A simple camera. A notebook with a hard cover. A guitar and a portable amp. This leads me to a quote by the late American actor William Claude Fields who once said: "Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water."

Until next time,
Danny

Welcome! Some notes about our trip...

2010-07-16T15:30:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone,
Thanks for visiting the new blog: Music Bus Goes Africa!

Here we will update you on our trip to Rwanda and Uganda this summer, where we will visit various centers, villages and individuals, hopefully as a precursor to a larger and longer-term Musicians without Borders project in the Great Lakes Area in Central-East Africa.

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Best,

Danny & Fabienne